Warming Hut Designs Take Shape at The Forks

Design teams put the finishing touches on their winning Warming Hut designs at The Forks in Winnipeg on Thursday as part of the annual international competition.

The competition closed in September and the winners were chosen to showcase their designs on the River Trail. Both eye-catching and functional, the huts will serve as shelters for skaters and winter revellers to escape winter’s wrath, if only for a couple of minutes.

“We encourage people to come down and check out the architects in action,” said Paul Jordan, chief operating officer of The Forks. “They’ve come up with these incredibly innovative ways to use materials that will have us engaging with the huts on a whole new level. It’s very cool to see them be transformed from conceptual to tactile.”

Three huts were chosen from an open competition with the winning designs coming from New York, New York, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a much anticipated homegrown design from Winnipeg. The fourth hut was chosen from student submissions at the University of Manitoba and the fifth comes from invited architects Atelier Big City in Montreal.

One of the local designs is called Hygge House, which is described as a cozy, simple wood framed structure based on a reproduction of one of the most cherished symbols of Canadiana — the wilderness cottage.

Nearly 100 submissions were received and eventually narrowed down to five. Some favourite huts from year’s past will also be making a return.